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U \ Of I'ARTMENT Of a,. Ml CULTURE

Wednesday, October 15, 1941

SUBJECT: "TIPS ON BUYING CANNED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. " Information from marketing specialists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Free leaflet available: "The ABC of Canned Fruit and Vegetable Labeling."

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More news today to help you get your money's worth when you buy food for the family. Here are some tips to help you in buying canned fruits or vegetables. These tips come direct from marketing specialists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. They say, first of all, look for the ABC grade labels on the can, because these labels give you the true quality of the food inside the can.

ABC grade labels may be something new to you. Canned food labeled this way has been on the market for several years. But you may not have seen it at your market. This year you are almost sure to find it. Great quantities of canned food have been graded by this simple method, and housewives all over the country are going to have a chance to buy it.

Let's have a look at these ABC labels now, and see how you can use them to buy and feed your family to best advantage.

Grade A on the label tells you the fruit or vegetable in the can is of very top quality. For some meals, or some particular dishes, you want this top quality. You buy Grade A for looks as well as flavor. Only the finest canned fruits and vegetables rate a grade of A. Size, and ripeness, and freedom from blemishes all count in making this grade. Grade A canned fruits are meaty, highly colored and ripe. Canned vegetables rating an A are the most tender and succulent produced. So you buy a can with an A label when you're making a salad, say, where looks count so much. Or you buy Grade A when you're serving canned fruit "as is" for dessert, or canned vegetables with no fixing up. Or you buy Grade A when you feel extra finicky about your food, or when your purse is extra

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heavy and you don't have to economize.

Now about Grade B: Grade B canned foods are of excellent quality, too, but they aren't quite up to Grade A in size, color, and tenderness. Grade B products may have a few slight blemishes, too. But they are still delicious and appetizing. They're the buys for everyday dishes where looks don't count too much. If you are going to chop the fruit or vegetables, or combine them with another food in preparing a meal, Grade B is usually a good choice. For example, now, suppose you're going to make apricot whip or peach tapioca pudding. Why buy the best-looking, largest, most tender fruits to press through a sieve or chop up and combine with egg or tapioca? Grade B or even C should do as well.

About Grade C: Fruits or vegetables rating this grade are of good quality but are not so uniform in color, or size, or ripeness as Grade B. Grade C canned fruit may not be so highly colored, or so carefully selected as to size and shape. Grade C products are ripe, but some may be slightly more tender than others. Here's a point in favor of Grade C, however. Grade C vegetables may have more food value than either Grade A or B, because they usually are more mature than the products in the higher grades. Grade C products, like Grade B, are good buys when you're going to chop them up, or combine them with other food.

Food of any one of these grades is nutritious and wholesome. To buy them to best advantage, consider how you are going to use them, and whether looks, color, size, and tenderness are worth extra money to you or not.

Any canner or distributor can use the A3C grade labels, provided each product measures up to the quality letter shown. He grades his procucts in accordance with standards developed by the U. S. Department of Agriculture through its Agricultural Marketing Service. The Service's marketing specialists have

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worked out standards for 40 different kinds of canned fruit and vegetables.

Now if you not only want canned food graded by these standards, but also want food canned in plants operating under constant Government inspection, and graded for quality by a Government grading expert, look for U. S. as well as the A, B, or C on the label. You can identify these Government-inspected and graded canned foods by the U. S. on the label, or by the U. S. shield embossed on one end of the can.

See why the grade labels are such a help in shopping for canned goods? Without these labels you have little to guide you in selecting quality except price or flossy language on the label. But price is no sure guide to quality. And as for flossy language — words like "superb" or "superfine" or "best-ever" on the label — they're no help either. r.'hat may seem superb or superfine to another person may seem only fair to you.

To help you use these labels to best advantage when you go shopping for food, the U. S. Department of Agriculture has prepared a little 8-page free leaflet called "The ABC of Canned Fruit and Vegetable Labeling." You're welcome to a copy. Just send a postcard to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., and ask for a copy of "The ABC of Canned Fruit and Vegetable Labeling."